Includes correspondence of Maurepas' father, mother and grandfather, the majority of which are letters from Jerome Phelypeaux, Maurepas' father, reporting as Secretary of the Navy to Maurepas' grandfather, the Chancellier de Pontchartrain, from various port cities in France. Also from this early period: a series of reports to the Chancellier from Bory and Chabert concerning the expedition of the Aimable to South America (including a ten page description of the Brazilian coast), and a letter from Bigorre to Cardinal Fleury.

Correspondence dating from Maurepas' ministry concerns war with England, the Bastille and colonizing Patagonia. Of particular interest is a note from Voltaire in his capacity as royal historiographer requesting information for his history of the Navy.